Typhoon Haiyan
' Typhoon Haiyan' is a Typhoon that is currently occuring in the Philippines.It is also know as 'Typhoon Yolanda. '''The typhoon is one of the strongest tropical cyclones ever recorded; meteorologists say it could be the most powerful storm ever to make landfall. The thirtieth named storm, thirteenth typhoon, and fifth super-typhoon of the 2013 Pacific typhoon season, Haiyan originated as an area of low pressure east-southeast of Pohnpei in the western Pacific Ocean on November 2.Tracking generally westward, the disturbance steadily developed within an environment of light wind shear and warm sea surface temperatures, becoming a tropical depression early the following day. After becoming a tropical storm and attaining the name ''Haiyan at 0000 UTC on November 4, the system began a period of explosive deepening that brought it to typhoon intensity by 1800 UTC on November 5. With an expanding and deepening central dense overcast and clear eye visible on satellite, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) upgraded Haiyan to a super typhoon—a typhoon in which maximum sustained winds attain or exceed 240 km/h (150 mph)—early on November 6. After entering PAGASA's region of responsibility, the JTWC upgraded Haiyan to a Category 5 equivalent on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale. Steered by a subtropical ridge to the cyclone's north, the eye of Haiyan passed over the northern portion of Palau, where extensive wind damage was observed. Thereafter, it continued to intensify; at 1200 UTC on November 7, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) upped the storm's maximum ten-minute sustained winds to 235 km/h (145 mph), the highest in relation to the cyclone. At 1800 UTC, the JTWC raised the system's one-minute sustained winds to 315 km/h (195 mph), unofficially making Haiyan the fourth most intense tropical cyclone ever observed. Several hours later, the eye of the cyclone made its first landfall on Guiuan, Eastern Samar, without any change in intensity; if verified, this would make Haiyan the strongest tropical cyclone to make a landfall on record, which may surpass the old record of 305 km/h (190 mph) set by Hurricane Camille in 1969. On November 8, the cyclone entered the South China Sea and was downgraded to a Category 4 typhoon by the JTWC. Readings indicated that Typhoon Haiyan dropped to Category 3 as it traversed the South China Sea, with gusts of up to 210 km/h (130 mph) and 1-minute sustained winds of up to 190 km/h (120 mph). Meteorological history On November 2, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) began monitoring a broad area of low pressure located about 425 km (265 mi) east-southeast of Pohnpei, one of the states in the Federated States of Micronesia. The system featured broken banding features alongside steadily consolidating convection. Environmental conditions ahead of the disturbance favored tropical cyclogenesis and dynamic weather forecast models predicted that a well-defined tropical cyclone would form within 72 hours. Early on November 3, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) classified the system as a tropical depression. Owing to a consolidating low-level circulation center with building deep convection, the JTWC also classified the system as a tropical depression, shortly after issuing a Tropical Cyclone Formation Alert. Subsequent intensification resulted in the JMA upgrading the system to a tropical storm and assigning it the name Haiyan at 0000 UTC on November 4. Meanwhile, the JTWC also upgraded it to a tropical storm, when the expansive system was steadily consolidating in an area of weak to moderate vertical wind shear and tracking westward along the southern periphery of a subtropical ridge. By November 5, the storm began to undergo rapid intensification as a prominent central dense overcast (CDO) with an embedded eye began developing. Owing to the formation of an eye, the JTWC estimated Haiyan to have achieved typhoon status around 0000 UTC that day. The JMA followed suit 18 hours later, by which time the JTWC estimated one-minute sustained winds to have reached 195 km/h (120 mph). A small typhoon, with a core roughly 110 km (70 mi) across, rapid intensification continued through November 6 as a 11 km (7 mi) wide pin-hole eye formed. Upper-level outflow favored further strengthening of the system and was further enhanced by a Tropical Upper Tropospheric Trough to the northeast. Intense banding features along the southern periphery of Haiyan wrapped into the system as well. Early on November 6, the JTWC estimated the system to have achieved super typhoon status. That day, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) assigned the storm the local name Yolanda as it approached their area of responsibility. Intensification slowed somewhat during the day, though the JTWC estimated the storm to have attained Category 5-equivalent status on the Saffir–Simpson hurricane wind scale around 1200 UTC. At this time, Haiyan displayed a 15 km (9 mi) wide eye surrounded by a ring of deep convection. Later, the eye of the typhoon passed over the island of Kayangel in Palau. Around 1200 UTC on November 7, Haiyan attained its peak intensity with ten-minute sustained winds of 235 km/h (145 mph) and a barometric pressure of 895 mbar (hPa; 26.43 inHg). Six hours later, the JTWC estimated Haiyan to have attained one-minute sustained winds of 315 km/h (195 mph) and gusts up to 378 km/h (235 mph). This unofficially ranks Haiyan as the fourth-strongest tropical cyclone on record in terms of wind speed, only exceeded by Typhoon Ida (325 km/h) in 1958, Typhoon Violet (335 km/h) in 1961, and Typhoon Nancy (345 km/h) in 1961. However, due to the fact the wind recordings in typhoons were erroneously high during the 1950s and 1960s, Haiyan unofficially ranks as the strongest tropical cyclone on record. The storm displayed some characteristics of an annular tropical cyclone, though a strong convective band remained present along the western side of the system. Satellite estimates at the time, using the Dvorak technique, reached the maximum level on the scale: T#8.0. The storm's structure exceeded the maximum intensity on the scale as, the "Dvorak technique makes no allowance for an eye embedded so deeply in cloud tops as cold as dark gray," as noted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) satellite analysis branch. Some automated models initialized its intensity at T#8.1, exceeding the scale's upper bounds. Through satellite estimates, NOAA also estimated that Haiyan achieved a minimum pressure between 858 mbar (hPa; 25.34 inHg) and 884 mbar (hPa; 26.11 inHg). Climate Change Colin Price, head of the geophysical, atmospheric, and planetary sciences department at Tel Aviv University in Israel, said "We've seen in the past decades the oceans are warming up, likely due to climate change," said Price. "So warmer oceans will give us more energy for these storms, likely resulting in more intense storms." Gallery Please find Typhoon Haiyan gallery at news.com here. Category:Natural Disasters Category:Typhoons Category:Breaking News Category:Philippines Category:2013